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CyberArk Privileged Access Manager vs Symantec Identity Governance and Administration comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.6
Organizations gain enhanced security, compliance, and cost savings with CyberArk, improving efficiency, user adoption, and risk reduction.
Sentiment score
7.6
Symantec Identity Governance boosts ROI by streamlining onboarding, enabling self-service, and automating user management, enhancing IT efficiency.
The return on investment lies in improved security infrastructure, addressing over-privileged access, and reducing the risk of credential compromise, which is a major source of data breaches.
Cyber Security Engineer at Isolutions Associates Ltd (ISOLS)
The end users have the authority to reconcile the password or verify it before using session isolation, which is one of the unique features that can be enabled through Privileged Session Manager, preventing any attacks from happening within the organization when connected with sessions through CyberArk Privileged Access Manager.
Senior Engineer at a tech vendor with 1,001-5,000 employees
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager has helped customers save on costs primarily by reducing the number of engineering and information security personnel.
Head of Sales Services Department at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.5
CyberArk's support receives mixed reviews, praised for expertise but criticized for delays, especially at Tier One, yet committed to improvement.
Sentiment score
6.2
Symantec's customer service is praised for responsiveness but needs improvement in geographical support and complex issue expertise.
CyberArk has been exceptional in coming back to us with immediate responses.
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It could be forever until you talk to someone who knows what they are doing.
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
Based on the issue resolution and support quality, I rate the support 10 out of 10.
Operation Specialists at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager scales efficiently for diverse needs, with flexible deployment options and positive user feedback on growth adaptability.
Sentiment score
7.3
Symantec Identity Governance scales well and adapts to organizational needs, though some face customization and resource challenges.
The CPM can reportedly handle up to 50,000 accounts independently without issue.
Privileged Access Management Engineer at a hospitality company with 10,001+ employees
I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability.
IT Cyber Security Lead at a mining and metals company with 1,001-5,000 employees
They had 40,000 passwords in this one safe, and it was saving the last ten iterations of each password object. That means they had 400,000 password objects in this safe. They exceeded the limit.
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is praised for its robust stability and high availability, with minor issues noted under heavy load.
Sentiment score
6.6
Symantec Identity Governance's stability is generally satisfactory, with performance issues arising under heavy loads or improper tuning.
Proper fine-tuning and expertise ensure the product performs well.
Cybersecurity Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
Overall, the stability of the solution is high.
Senior Cybersecurity Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It has a large customer base and positive feedback within my network.
Senior Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager needs UI, integration, documentation, performance, complexity improvements, better plugins, licensing, reporting, and support.
Symantec Identity Governance needs improvements in UI, integration, documentation, security, cloud performance, scalability, and user-friendliness.
They want everything to be on the cloud, but even in the SaaS version of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager, they need to deploy some servers on-premises.
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
We cannot generate a plug-in for web-based applications.
Contractor at a pharma/biotech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
If they want clients to move to the cloud, they need to support them in real-time.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
 

Setup Cost

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is costly but offers robust features and security, providing value despite higher pricing.
Symantec Identity Governance pricing is mid-range, seen as expensive, with flexible licensing but time-consuming implementation.
CyberArk is expensive compared to other products I know.
Cybersecurity Specialist at a comms service provider with 5,001-10,000 employees
CyberArk is comparatively expensive compared to other PAM solutions, such as Delinea, especially during renewal.
Presales Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
CyberArk's SaaS solution is particularly expensive.
Senior Manager at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

CyberArk Privileged Access Manager offers password management, session monitoring, and threat analytics to enhance security and compliance.
Symantec Identity Governance streamlines provisioning, access control, and policy compliance with flexible integration and user-friendly self-service features.
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager helps ensure data privacy because we now know who is using which credentials and at what time.
Senior Cybersecurity Manager at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It keeps a record of activities, allowing me to easily fetch screen recordings to detect any misuse and see who did what and what happened.
Senior Manager at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
It can integrate with Splunk, SNMP, and other solutions and technologies.
Technical Support Analyst at Capgemini
 

Categories and Ranking

CyberArk Privileged Access ...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
229
Ranking in other categories
User Activity Monitoring (1st), Enterprise Password Managers (3rd), Privileged Access Management (PAM) (1st), Mainframe Security (2nd), Operational Technology (OT) Security (3rd)
Symantec Identity Governanc...
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
User Provisioning Software (11th), Identity Management (IM) (25th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Identity and Access Management solutions, they serve different purposes. CyberArk Privileged Access Manager is designed for Privileged Access Management (PAM) and holds a mindshare of 11.6%, down 20.0% compared to last year.
Symantec Identity Governance and Administration, on the other hand, focuses on Identity Management (IM), holds 1.7% mindshare, up 1.4% since last year.
Privileged Access Management (PAM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
CyberArk Privileged Access Manager11.6%
WALLIX Bastion5.1%
Delinea Secret Server5.0%
Other78.3%
Privileged Access Management (PAM)
Identity Management (IM) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Symantec Identity Governance and Administration1.7%
SailPoint Identity Security Cloud14.6%
Microsoft Entra ID9.3%
Other74.4%
Identity Management (IM)
 

Featured Reviews

SI
Senior PAM Consultant at iC Consult GmbH
Makes privileged access management easy with automation and granular control
Many people underestimate the value of these tools because they treat them as simple automated password management. Once you realize the volume of passwords in your organization and factor in nonhuman passwords, you realize its value. Last year, CyberArk Impact cited 45 nonhuman passwords for every human password. If you have 10,000 employees, you can imagine the number of passwords. There are also many other operations. For example, you have a Qualys scanner that needs to reach out and touch all your endpoints and scan them for vulnerabilities. They use an API call to CyberArk to pull out a Privileged credential that allows them to log in to that target. This is an automated machine call. It is tapping into CyberArk to get that credential. There can be hundreds of thousands of those operations a day. You do not want to manage those passwords by hand. Some people marginalize the significance of such a solution by saying that it is just a fancy password changer. It goes well beyond that, especially with API calls and automation. Its importance extends beyond merely changing passwords; it involves automation, API calls, and process integration, crucial in agile environments for standing up new Amazon servers or other processes needing privileged credentials. CyberArk can automate these tasks into their build processes. Another critical feature is the proxy service via Privileged Session Manager (PSM), providing not only a proxy between your user and the target servers, protecting against malware but also offering session recording. Many companies I have worked with implemented a PAM product as a knee-jerk reaction to SOX audit requirements. They discovered they needed session recording and retention for regulatory compliance. This has become a major factor for clients instituting CyberArk, so PSM is a big deal in addition to regular password rotation.
reviewer2183661 - PeerSpot reviewer
Managing Director at a consultancy with 1-10 employees
Has an easy initial setup process, but its technical support services need improvement
The product's technical support could be better. The integration project requires a lot of technical details, so we need to find it quickly and easily. There was a large community of knowledge in the past. We kept it together and got the results. The community that works around the particular technical issue is shrinking. It used to be a specialized community that would help with the process. These particular areas need improvement. Broadcom is still using a hybrid cloud model, with some workloads on-premises and some in the cloud. They must start with the cloud adoption and move as many workloads to the cloud as possible. The on-premises environment is becoming stable. They need to rebuild that cost and the software. The product's pre-sales, technical support, and installation could also improve.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
Government
6%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Performing Arts
11%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise40
Large Enterprise173
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business23
Midsize Enterprise9
Large Enterprise45
 

Questions from the Community

How does Sailpoint IdentityIQ compare with CyberArk PAM?
We evaluated Sailpoint IdentityIQ before ultimately choosing CyberArk. Sailpoint Identity Platform is a solution to manage risks in cloud enterprise environments. It automates and streamlines the m...
What do you like most about CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
The most valuable features of the solution are control and analytics.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for CyberArk Privileged Access Manager?
My thoughts on the pricing of CyberArk Privileged Access Manager depend entirely on the vendors' requirements. If they want their things to be secure, they have to spend accordingly. We have four t...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Symantec Identity Governance and Administration?
The pricing has been very reasonable, but licensing costs vary based on the customer. It follows a user-based licensing model.
What needs improvement with Symantec Identity Governance and Administration?
Symantec should develop a SaaS solution for cloud environments to make the solution available in various marketplaces for easy deployment. It should also offer bundle installation instead of one by...
What is your primary use case for Symantec Identity Governance and Administration?
I am a consultant and we consult for identity and network management. We work with Symantec, which is owned by Broadcom, and also with Microsoft and Oracle. Additionally, we work with open-source s...
 

Also Known As

CyberArk Privileged Access Security, CyberArk Enterprise Password Vault
CA Identity Suite, Symantec IGA, Layer7 Identity Suite, CA Identity Manager (CA IDM), CA Identity Minder, CA IAM, CA Identity Manager (CA IDM), CA Identity Governance
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Rockwell Automation
Acciona, Core Blox, DBS
Find out what your peers are saying about CyberArk, One Identity, Delinea and others in Privileged Access Management (PAM). Updated: January 2026.
880,511 professionals have used our research since 2012.